Lawlessness
How does the bible define sin?
The word Torah is often translated “law”.1 This is because when the translators of what is called the Septuagint was translating the Tanakh2 into Greek, they came across the Hebrew word תוֹרָה (Torah) and decided to translate it into Greek as νόμος (nomos), meaning “law”.
Perhaps they couldn’t figure out a better way to translate it. The word actually means more than just “law”. In my Strong’s Concordance, it says “Torah signifies primarily direction, teaching, instruction.”3 That is the common definition that I see people use when they wish to define the word Torah, that it is God’s teaching or instruction.
So, when it came time for the authors of the Brit Chadashah4 to write their works, they stuck with tradition. They used νόμος as the Hebrew to Greek translation of the word Torah. And thus, throughout the Brit Chadashah, νόμος is used in the Greek and then, when it is translated into English, most translations just translate it as law, the meaning of the word νόμος.
So, we can then be well assured that, for at least most of the usages of the word law in the Brit Chadashah, it is a reference to the Torah itself. Most everyone today agrees upon this, even Christians. Some of the references are fairly obvious, like in Matthew 5:17-18.
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (NKJV)
But not all references are this obvious as to what it is referring to. Let’s take a look at 1 John 3:4.
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. (NKJV)
The Greek word for lawlessness here is ἀνομία (anomia). The word is made of two parts. The ἀ- is actually a prefix that means “anti-”. νομία is actually the same word as νόμος (nomos), meaning “law”. ἀνομία thus means “anti-law”. In this verse, it is saying that, by sinning, you are anti-law.
But wait, if νόμος/law in the Brit Chadashah means Torah, what does that mean for that particular verse? I will offer this translation of the verse.
4 Whoever commits sin also commits Torahlessness, and sin is Torahlessness.
This is one of the few places in the bible where the Bible defines what sin is. Here, it defines sin as Torahlessness, or perhaps as Anti-Torah. Thus committing sin is anti-Torah.
The Torah has been the moral standard of the Jewish people for several thousand years. It defined their way of life, the way they lived their lives since it was given to Moses, as described in the book of Exodus. Over time, 613 “laws” (or Mitzvot) have been extracted from the Torah.
However, most Christians feel like this is too much, that 613 laws are impossible to follow without breaking the laws. In fact, they claim that it has all been done away with, often claiming it has been “nailed to the cross.”
13 When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with Him when He pardoned us all our transgressions. 14 He wiped out the handwritten record of debts with the decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14, TLV, emphasis mine)
But what they don’t understand is that this verse doesn’t speak of “the Law”, but instead, it’s speaks of “debts”, which is often the way the bible speaks of sin. Your debts was what was nailed to the cross, which as I have now demonstrated above, is actually lawlessness, or Torahlessness.
But Yeshua said something that also addressed this. He said:
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:30, TLV)
His “yoke” is our Father’s yoke. They are one and the same. Thus, the Torah is easy, the burden light. Out of 613 commandments, are any of them hard to follow? No. Take a look for yourself. Go to this website5 and see for yourself if there really is anything hard to follow.
Now, I am not talking about just things that you want to do, but in general. Is it hard not to eat the flesh of unclean beasts? Not really. Most of the “laws” listed are just things or actions that a person is just to abstain from, or in other words, not do! How hard is it to just NOT do something?
On top of that, not ALL of the 613 applies equally to all people! Some are for men, some for women, some for priests, and some for those that only live in the biblical land of Israel. It isn’t hard to follow the yoke of Torah.
I hope you have enjoyed this article. It took me a little while to write as I hit a case of writer’s block towards the end. Please let me know what you think of the article in the comments below and let me know what other topics that you’d love to see me tackle in the future as well.
that is, the Old Testament.
I specifically use the Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible published by Thomas Nelson and includes “the Best of Vine’s Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words”. It is from the Vine’s part of the entry found on page 296 of the Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary.
that is, the New Testament.
Great article. G-D Bless, you.